Garment hanger cover



1956 A. IVERSON 2,774,527

GARMENT HANGER COVER Filed Nov. 12, 1953 drczezzl. [08715072 BY Uniwd t ws Paten The present invention relates to improvements in a simple paper protector or cover for wire garment hangers such as are in universal use in laundry and dry cleaning establishments. The invention provides a protective cover which, notwithstanding the flimsiness of the paper of which it is fabricated, is nevertheless solocked or anchored to the hanger as to substantially brace the parts thereof and rigidity the hanger as a whole.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved. .paper garment protector which afiords full coverage of the wire hanger to protect against soilage or rust damage to garments suspended thereon, as well as a large area to receive printed advertising or promotional matter or ornamentation. 7

Another object is to provide a protective cover which is easily and rapidly applied to and secured on'wire garment hangers by inexperienced personnel, these operations involving an absolute minimum of folding manipu- ,lation' of the .cover.

, More specifically, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved protective cover or shield for a wire garment hanger, which features a main panel cover- ;,ing oneside of the hanger over the entire area between "alpall' of arms diverging downward from a central shank a'nd suspending hook,.this panel downwardly overlappinga cross. bar .or strut integrally connected try-the lower spread ends of said arms, together with a pair of coacting triangular wing panels which are folded about the shank and hanger arms to correspondingly coverthe .entire hanger at the opposite side thereof,leaving prac tically nothing exposed except the suspending hook; The wings are adhesively secured to the main panel and hanger arms, where they wrap around the latter, and

.are similarly secured adhesively to the main panel and strut, about which they are pressed on its opposite sides. Thus the wire hanger has its parts eflectively anchored by the cover and is as a whole substantially braced and rigidified by the anchors; yet there are no folding or securing operations required in the application other than two simple folds at the arms and the application of pressure there and at the strut.

.Another specific object is to provide an improved cover as set forth in the preceding paragraph, in which the wing portions of the cover folded about the downwardly divergent hanger arms are overlapped substantially on one another, so as to extend downwardly across the entire area of the hanger and well past its cross strut, the material of the cover on opposite sides of the hanger terminating in free" unfolded edges depending beneath the cross strut; and to provide a protected hanger unit.

Yet another specific object of the invention is to provide a protective hanger cover as specified above in which the contacting areas of the main cover panel and its wings at and on immediate opposite sides of each of the hanger arms and the hanger cross strut are provided with a coating of pressure sensitive adhesive, these areas of adhesive on the panel and respective wings being wvergent relation to one another. upper margins 13 of the wings relative to center bay 2,774,527 Patented Dec. 18, 1956 pressed against one another directly above and, below the cross-strut and arms, thereby securely anchoring those :hanger parts; This rigidly locks the cross strut, particularly against flexure in the plane of the hanger or transversely of that plane. Thus securement of the cover to; the parts greatly reinforcesthe hanger by inhibiting movement of those parts. This makes it possible to construct the hanger of a relatively light gauge wire stock and still have the'carrying strength of a heavier stock.

The foregoing statements are indicative-in a general way of the nature oftheinventionl Other and more specific objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon a full understanding of the character and use of the improved protective cover.

A single embodiment'of the invention is presented herein for purpose of illustration. It will be appreciated that the invention may be incorporated in other modified -fo'rms coming equally within the scope of the appended claims.

. Y .1 In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the protector in a flat,

unfolded condition and with a wire hanger positioned thereon for covering, this view showing the application of striped areas of a latex-type, pressure sensitive adhesive to the cover;

" Fig. 2 is a plan view showing an intermediate stage .in the operation of assembling the cover to the hanger; Fig. 3 is a plan view of the completed assembly; and

Fig. 4 is a view in vertical cross section on an enlarged scale at line 44 of Fig. 3, illustrating the anchoring action performed by the hanger cover on the parts of 113 which converge downwardly-to meet at a central,

downwardly convex, hanger shank receiving cleft or bay 14. a The corners of. the sheet are rounded.

Margins 12, 13 define upper side wings 15 of triangular outline which are, generally speaking, in upwardly di- The positioning of 14 is such that when the wings are folded and secured in the intended manner the margins will overlap along an elongated joint extending normal to the midpoint of bottom margin 11.

Protective cover 10 is completed bythe application of a well known pressure sensitive latex-type adhesive 22, in areas best described by reference to the parts of a wire garment hanger 16 shielded by the cover. These areas are indicated by stippling in Figs. 1 and 2.

Garment hanger 16 is shown as being of entirely conventional, one-piece character. It has a twisted shank 17 integrally connecting a suspending hook 18 with a small inverted bight 19, from which a pair of garment supporting arms 20 diverge downwardly. The arms are integrally'connected by a horizontal cross bar or strut 21. In assembling cover 10 to the hanger, the latter is placed atop the cover, with its transversely extending cross strutv 21 paralleling, but spaced upwardly of the bottom margin of the cover. In this position strut 21 lies. approximately on the longitudinal centerline of a horizontal bottom stripe of the pressure sensitive adhesive 22. This stripe is of substantial width, and in length it overextends the strut.

A horizontal center stripe of the same adhesive extends longitudinally across the entire width of cover 10, paralleling the bottom stripe and in such upwardly spaced relation thereto as to cross the arms 20 of hanger 16 about at their vertical midpoints. This stripe is also of substantial transverse width, so that when the protector is folded about hanger arms 20 substantial adhesive coated portions of the center stripe will contact one another. Finally, 'upper areas-of pressure sensitive adhesive are applied at the tips of hanger wings 15, these areas being so located in reference to the proposed slineof :fold about a hanger arm 20 that they will be superposed on portions of cross strut 21 and the bottom adhesive stripe when the fold is made. The .adhesive is of course of thettype which-will adhere at a coated area to asimilarly coated surface though not necessarily to an uncoated surface.

With hanger 16 positioned in relation to cover and its coated areas as described, the 'wings are successively folded upwardly, inwardly and downwardly over the angular arms '16, causing portions of the intermediate adhesive stripe to overlie one another on opposite sides of the arms and causing the upper wing-applied adhesive areas to successively cover hanger cross strut 21, straddling :theisarne and overlying the bottom adhesive stripe,

With the wings thus folded into overlapped relation to one another, as illustrated in Fig. ,3, wiping pressure is applied to the superposed stripes of adhesive along the arms and strut 21, i. e., along pressure lines extending from the top of cover 10 at its center bay to the bottom corners thereof and along the line of the strut, causing the two cover wings 15 to adhere firmly to the'main cover panel at localized zones along either immediate side of the line of the cross strut and arms. Cover 10 is thus strongly locked to and anchors the hanger, particularly at the cross strut. It prevents bowing or side shift of the hanger strut, and this in turn braces the arms of the hanger against flexure which commonly occurs when the arms are otherwise unbraced or stiffened. Substantially increased strength and rigidity are imparted to the hangercover assembly by the improved cover details, especially in their positional relation to the hanger parts.

Free bottom edges of cover 10 and'its folded wings 15 depend substantially beneath the locked hanger strut, covering the adhesive connection at the latter and thus preventing the possibility of dust or lint collecting at the adhesive of the connection.

The completed assembly provides full protection for garments from top to bottom and side to side of the hanger, also, and especially, at the critical shank junction of its arms 20 with suspending hook 18. Full surface area is afforded for the reception of printed-advertising or decorative material.

The cover is extremely easy and quickto apply to the hanger, particularly when aided by simple 'fixtureequipment to register the cover and hanger in relation toone another. However manual assembly, unassisted by such equipment, is-also rapidly performed due to the factthat only two simple cover folds are involved.

I claim:

1. In a shielded garment hanger unit including a Wire garment hanger of fiexible lightweight construction provided with a suspending shank having-arms diverging downwardly therefrom interconnected at the lowermost ends thereof with a cross strut, the provision-of a rigidity imparting protective cover fixedly applied in intimate and tight bracing relation to substantially the entire length of the arms and strut of said hanger, said 'cover having a body portion of substantially the same outline and outer dimensions of said hanger as defined by the arms and strut thereof, the lowermost margin of said body portion extending downwardly below said strut throughout at portions ,of'sa1d strut to maintain tensiomng of said therewith and into 'face-to-face contact with said "body portion, said wings being provided with vertically directed centrally located margins in overlapped relation, the lowermost margins of said wings substantially coinciding with the lowermost margin'of said body portion, and a second zone of pressure sensitive adhesive on the innermost faces of said wings in adhering contact with said first zone to position said wings in fixed relation with said body portion and in tightly drawn intimate'bracing contact with and between said strut and said arms.

2. .In a shielded garment hanger unit including a wire garment hanger of flexible lightweight construction provided with a suspending shank having arms diverging downwardly therefrom interconnected at the lowermost ends thereof with a cross strut, the provision of a' rigidity imparting protective cover fixedly applied inintimate and tight bracing relation to substantially the entire length of the arms and strut of said hanger, said cover having a body portion of substantially the same outline and'outer dimensions of said hanger as defined by the arms and strut thereof, the lowermost margin of said body portion extending downwardly below said strut throughout at least substantially the longitudinal lengththereof, a first zone of pressure sensitive adhesive extending substantially'the full width of said body portion near the bottommargin thereof and being of sufficient width to overlie said strut above and below the same, apair of wings integrally formed with converging margins and integral with said 40.b ody portion and each being closelyfolded about an arm of said hangerin intimate bracing contact therewith and into face-to-face contact with said body portion, said wings being provided with vertically directed centrally located margins in overlapped relation, the lowermost margins of said wings substantially coinciding with the lowermost margin of said body portion, a second-zone of pressure sensitive adhesiveon the innermost faces of said wings in adhering contact with said first zone to position said wings in fixed relation with said body portion and in tightly drawn intimate bracing contact with and between said strut and said arms, and a third zone of pressure sensitive adhesive extending substantially the full width of said body portion intermediate said first and second zones, said third zone being partially folded 'on itself over the central portion of each of said arms, the end portions of said third zone extending downwardly across said strut into contact with said first zone near the ends thereof, said third zone thereby bringing continuous portions of said body portion and wings into adhering contact between the central portions of said arms and the end References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,533,864. Wordingham Dec; 12, 1950 

